CFP: The Material History of Spider-Man (MLA) (Mar. 5; Jan 5-8)

CFP: The Material History of Spider-Man:

A 50th Anniversary Observance

Call for Papers for a panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention, 5-8 Jan. 2012, Seattle. This panel will be sponsored by the MLA Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives (http://graphicnarratives.org)

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man’s first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, this session seeks to examine the histories imbricated in this iconic figure. From his Cold War origins in 1962, to his emergence as a symbol of the counterculture, to his commemoration of indelible moments in 21st-century America (e.g., Amazing Spider-Man #477—the 9/11 issue, or Amazing Spider-Man #583—the Obama issue), Spider-Man’s continuing narrative traces/haunts/aligns with US cultural history in provocative ways. This session seeks to understand what is revealed when one follows these relationships through the proliferation of texts — dozens of different comic book series, several television shows, a number of young adult novels, multiple films and videogames, and myriad other adaptations, including a pending Broadway musical — produced over the fifty-year development of this American icon.

Possible areas of inquiry may include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Cold War technology and the origins of Spider-ManThe liberal consensus and the masked hero
• Spider-Man and the counterculture
• Archives and artifacts: Spider-man and the multimedia trace
• Spider-Man on campus
• The various Spider-Man comic books as barometers of contemporary culture
• Spider-Man and 9/11
• The “Civil War” crossover series and the War on Terror
• The cultural significance of Spider-Man adapted into other media
• Spider-Man in the age of Obama

Send 500-word abstracts in .doc or .pdf form to Derek Royal: derek at derekroyal-dot-com. The deadline for submissions is 5 March 2011. Submitters will receive notification of results by no later than April 1.

Please note that all prospective presenters must be current MLA members by no later than 7 April 2011.

This CFP can also be viewed at the website for the MLA Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives (http://graphicnarratives.org).

Tales from the Green Scrapbook #5: TV Guide on Spider-Man Special Effects

Being another in our occasional series of scans of items I taped into a green notebook when I was a child...

Journey with me back to 1978. A simpler time than now, when television signals traveled through the airwaves, not cables, but when cables were high-tech special effects gear. Journey, then, to a location shot for The Amazing Spider-Man television show: The Empire State Building, and view the death-defying harness work of Spider-double Fred Waugh. That's right, kids; no green screens or digital compositing. Just a man, a building, and a harness that must have chafed like the dickens. Now that is a special effect.

Source: This time I've got it! TV Guide, September 2, 1978.

Tales from the Green Scrapbook #3: Spider-Man Visits Milwaukee

Yes, it's been nearly two years, but it's the return of Tales of the Green Scrapbook - an occasional (very) series in which I scan comics-related items that I kept in an old notebook when I was a child...

This time out - Spider-Man visits Milwaukee, Wisconsin! The year is 1977 or '78 (I didn't make notes at the time), and the newspaper is filled with ads like this one, urging kids (and their money-spending parents, natch) to visit Gimbels, the big department store, in order to meet Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man! This ad is so large that I had to scan it in two parts. Nice John Romita, Sr. art here!

But it wasn't just ads that were in the paper. Gerald Kloss, the Milwaukee Journal's "Slightly Kloss-Eyed" humor columnist (example), also interviewed the man in the Spidey suit. (I wonder if such interviews are even possible anymore - perhaps Marvel would want to maintain the illusion for the kids better nowadays?)

Anyway: Here, possibly for the first time on teh internets, is that vintage interview. Enjoy!

PS: For whatever reason, I didn't get to go and meet my hero that time. However, I bet none of the kids who did get to meet him bothered to keep this stuff. Ephemera ftw!